Rights firm draws bid approach

Entertainment Rights, owner of rights to Postman Pat and Basil Brush said yesterday that it had received a bid approach. Shares in the firm plunged last week after Entertainment Rights admitted that trading over Christmas had been worse than expected because shops did not receive vital supplies of DVDs in time for them to fill the nation's stockings. The business, which also has the rights to Rupert the Bear, is reported to have garnered interest from a number of opportunistic financial buyers over the weekend. Insiders, however, insisted that the chief executive, Mike Heap, was unlikely to sell up, given that the stock had lost a quarter of its value as a result of the poor trading update.